The Non-Negotiables

One of the two foundational tools in the Women-Centric Design toolkit is the Non-Negotiables.

I created the non-negotiables because I noticed a gap: despite the emergence of women-centric design, new tools often mirrored conventional design and failed to integrate learnings from existing gender practice. I wanted to create something that built upon and celebrated the work of gender practitioners — and also served as a go-to framework with actionable insights for women-centric design. This made creating the non-negotiables exciting for me.

Despite being grounded in research with gender practitioners, the non-negotiables embody a ‘newness’ which means they come with imperfections. They have holes, can feel hard to grasp, and are messy. This is what makes me nervous.

But, I have also always sensed a resonance. In my talks, workshops & courses, I see the nod-alongs. Impact & gender practitioners have told me that where the Women-Centric Eye didn’t feel novel to them, the non-negotiables did – in a practical way.

What they are:

Rooted in extensive research and dialogue with gender practitioners, the non-negotiables are a set of recurring themes most useful for research and ideation phases. Where the Women-Centric Eye helps identify opportunity areas, the non-negotiables help design solutions for them.

The themes:

• Safety: caring for a fundamental need

• Non-Linearity: reducing invisible penalties

• Trust: reducing systemic inequities

• Community: fostering support for collective struggles

• Ecosystem: weaving a comprehensive solution

• Positive Masculinity: integrating a role for men

---

Implementing the Non-Negotiables

The non-negotiables, our second foundational tool, encapsulate the most commonly overlooked needs and experiences of women. If practitioners began to integrate these 6 aspects throughout their projects, that could be a game changer for women.

The tool has been designed to enhance projects’ research & ideation phases. Each comes with a description, examples, “ways to design” ideas, a research question & a design consideration.

For example, we might ask:

• What would make women feel physically and psychologically safe to engage with our product?

• What unintended penalties does our product perpetuate by ignoring the non-linearity in women’s lives stemming from biological and gendered differences?

These questions are meant to help you think about your own project through the lens of these themes. They’re meant to uncover unintended consequences a solution might carry and to help you conduct more holistic research that truly centers women’s lived experiences.

Putting into Practice

During research:

1. Read through the description of the non-negotiable, including the associated examples.

2. On a few post-it notes, brainstorm how you believe the non-negotiable connects with your project and the surrounding ecosystem within which your project exists

3. Ask yourself the research question for the non-negotiable (in the table below). Using your post-it notes and the research question, identify knowledge gaps about the particular non-negotiable.

4. Incorporate interview questions and prompts that will help you fill the knowledge gaps into your discussion guide or other research materials.

During ideation:

1. Read through the description of the non-negotiable, paying close attention to the design consideration and the listed relevant examples (”ways to design for…”)

2. Collect other examples that design well for a non-negotiable.

3. Using the examples as inspiration and insights from your research, design ideation prompts by borrowing levers from the collected examples.